Computer Networking and Hardware support in Northern New Jersey

About 2

I started working with computers in 1977.

Back then there were no monitors or mice.

There was an IBM Selectric Typewriter terminal at my High School and a rotary dial telephone with an acoustic coupler to make the connection to the computer at the local college. We had free computer time and I taught the mainframe how to deal cards.

I was teaching the machine how to play poker when the semester ended.
It was a great experience but it ended my involvement with computers for almost 10 years.

I really wanted to be involved in Public Communications, which for the longest time meant Radio and Television in the electronic media field. The Internet was unknown. in the 1980’s the Internet was a government project and completely non-commercial. I set my sights on a possible career in electronic media, and went to Syracuse University to study it.

I was working in radio during high school and college, and then started to work in television after graduation.

While working at USA Television Network, I was introduced to the new IBM XT Personal Computer. Even in its earliest form, the computer was quickly being integrated into broadcast television. I began to realize that my career in communications would be intertwined with this new machine. I set off to teach myself how the computer worked.

There were no real schools for what I was learning. It was obvious that the PC would find its way into the workplace. I did my earliest programming work creating a program that determined the advertising equivalency value of promotional programming on broadcast television. Then I programmed a database to keep track of a video tape library.

Soon afterwards I was introduced to the world of telephone systems. These were the early, most common forms of networking. Small companies started buying and installing Private Branch Exchange (PBX) phone switches to increase their efficiency. Building wiring was installed to also accommodate the latest technology of personal computer networking. I was among the first to wire up early computers to a network using phone wires in the early 1990’s.

By 1996 all this was common (phone switches and computer networks) so I was in demand as a support engineer and programmer for small and medium businesses. I also did contract programming for several big companies. The Internet arrived, and I went to work for a small start up that built websites. My career has been a constant flow of work from all three areas of technology: computer hardware support and maintenance; telephone system installation and moves and changes; computer programming and project management related to development.

I realize that you can’t stand still in the business of technology support. You need to keep reinventing yourself and learning the new technology. The good news is that technology that was expensive and difficult to use just a few years ago is now inexpensive and easy. It means you can get done more with less.

If you give me call, I can help you fix the problems that prevent you from getting your job done at a reasonable price.